Jordan Chamber of Industry: High demand for local industry products such as stationery and paper

Alanbat - Sarah Omat

 The representative of the packaging industries, paper, cardboard, and office supplies at the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Mohammed AlSafadi, stressed that Jordan has great production capabilities in the stationery and paper sector, which surpasses its high quality over its imported counterpart.

 AlSafadi told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the demand for locally manufactured stationery and paper products is witnessing a significant increase in conjunction with the imminent return of about two million students to school in the new academic year.

He stressed that the prices of stationery and office school supplies in the local market are very competitive, and their quality is high compared to imported, pointing out that Jordan has large production capabilities within the stationery and paper sector, covering annually more than half of the local market's needs.

He explained that the demand has increased during the past few days for school stationery supplies, including notebooks, pens, stickers, bags, and others, pointing to the availability of sufficient quantities of locally manufactured stationery, to meet the different needs and tastes of consumers.

He pointed out that part of the production is exported abroad, amounting to about 21 million dinars annually, which indicates the efficiency and high quality of the sector's products that enable them to compete at the local market level and in foreign markets.

He pointed out that national products face intense unfair competition in the local market from imported products with local analogies, in the absence of protectionist policies for national products, such as reducing customs duties on some school stationery products such as notebooks, school bags, and tools, which have weakened the ability of national products to compete locally.

Safadi pointed out that there are more than 121 facilities specializing in the manufacture of paper, cardboard, and school stationery, including 3 factories for school notebooks and a factory of ink pens, all of which employ more than 5,000 workers.

He pointed out that Jordan's total production of office supplies, paper, cardboard and books annually averages 50 million dinars, which indicates that the Kingdom has large production capabilities in the stationery and paper sector.